VAULT EXTRA 22nd APRIL 2021
BROOK GARRU ANDREW:
RETHINKING COLLECTING
Spanning sculpture, video, photography and immersive installation, the expanded practice of artist and scholar Brook Garru Andrew forges alternative lenses for viewing the world. The artist’s solo exhibition titled DIWIL currently showing at Murray Art Museum Albury (MAMA) follows Andrew’s penchant for rigorous research and a hyper-referenced visual language, presenting works that reflect on the artist’s relationship with objects, history, and Country.
The exhibition marks the premiere of GARRU NGAJUU NGAAY, a major new installation commissioned by MAMA. Taking its title from The Wiradjuri word for 'collection', DIWIL brings together recent considerations by the artist with key works from the last decade that offer a multiplicity of narratives and lenses for exploring the legacies of colonisation and modernism. VAULT writer Peter Hill sat down with the Andrew, taking the time to delve into the influences and approaches that shape the artist’s practice.
Image credit:Brook Andrew at Brook Andrew: The Right to Offend is Sacred at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia. Courtesy the artist and The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, Melbourne. Photo: Wayne Taylor
THE THEATRE OF THE GROTTO
Mosman Art Gallery is currently showing ‘Theatre of the Grotto’, a new installation by Sydney-based artist Kate Dorrough. This experimental piece uses video as well as artificial rocks painted in vivid colours to create an immersive a visual contrast that coveys the artist’s playful interpretation of ancient river cave formations.
Theatre of the Grotto tells of the interpolated perception of grottoes – which are often associated with the underworld, a meeting place between the human and the divine – as they espouse an original source of a water representing life. Dorrough references how grottoes have been reinterpreted throughout history – countlessly appearing as fantastical gardens and architectural features which echo ancient classical origins – while ultimately their artificial and imagined construction alludes to the enduring interplay between the artificial, the real and the imaginary within the collective psyche. The artist’s layering of materials such as ceramic vessels, shells, paint, video, sound and fabric, echoes the multiplicity of history itself and the fragility that is implicated within the stretching of the world around us.
The exhibition continues until June 13, 2021.
Image credit:Kate Dorrough, Theatre of the Grotto, 2021, site specific installation, ceramics, textiles, sound and 5 channel video projection, dimensions variable. Courtesy of the artist and Arthouse Gallery. Photo: Jenni Carter
FRANCESCA MOLLETT AT INFORMALITY
Informality Gallery, Oxfordshire, will soon open ‘Wild Shade’, a solo exhibition of works by Francesca Mollett. Opening April 29, 2021, the exhibition brings together a new body of work that responds to Earth’s sources of water and the artist’s desire to record and share the personal transformation that humans experience through a particular place and set of circumstances – choreographed by light and weather.
In this series, Mollett’s paintings are informed by time spent by a network of wells in Penwith, Cornwall, England. Notably, the land of Penwith is both sacred and geologically exploited – large quantities of copper and tin were mined – a history that exists alongside the enduring natural landscape such as the co-existence of underground water that has been considered ‘holy’ and ‘healing’. Reflecting on the body’s encounter with the landscape over time the artist notes, “an energy is a force of expression. The water produces an effect on the surroundings, both body and land express a frequency.”
‘Wild Shade’ runs from April 29 until May 29, 2021.
Image credit:Francesca Mollett, Tufa Dreams, 2020, oil and acrylic on calico. Courtesy the artist and Informality Gallery
BIENNALE OF SYDNEY 2022 FLOWS FORWARD
The Biennale of Sydney has announced that its 23rd iteration, taking place March 12 until June 12, 2022, will be titled rīvus. Meaning ‘stream’ in Latin the title engages thought, dialogue and questions relating to the agency of aqueous beings such as rivers, wetlands and other salt and freshwater ecosystems.
Commenting on the curatorial framework, Artistic Director of the Biennale of Sydney José Roca notes, “the exhibition will be articulated through a series of conceptual wetlands; imagines ecosystems populated by artworks, experiments, activisms and research, and together will follow the currents of meandering tributaries, expanding into a delta of interrelated ideas.” Participants in the biennale are emergent from expansive creative disciplines. Artists will feature as well as architects, designers, scientists and communities. The line-up of participants was also released alongside the theme of the exhibition – the list including remarkable practitioners such as, Carolina Caycedo, Dale Harding, Caio Reisewitz, Mike Parr, Abel Rodríguez, Kiki Smith, Barthélémy Toguo, Robert Andrew, Clare Milledge and Yoan Capote.
Image credit:From left: José Roca, Artistic Director, 23rd Biennale of Sydney, Anna Davis, Curator, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Paschal Daantos Berry, Head of Learning and Participation, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Talia Linz, Curator, Artspace, Hannah Donnelly, Producer, First Nations Programs, Information + Cultural Exchange (I.C.E.), Barbara Moore, Chief Executive Officer, Biennale of Sydney. Photo: Joshua Morris
DISCORDIA x LONG PRAWN
Curated by Long Prawn and Australian artist Tully Moore, Discordia gallery presents Spud Love, a culinary experience celebrating the artist’s work. This one-night event is the second iteration of a partnered series that elaborates Discordia’s exhibition program to offer an elaborate themed dinner. Spud Love offers a unique dining experience designed around fornicating starches, elevated depression foods and pandemic-style drinking.
Spud Love is a ticketed event, offering guests multiple shared plates of fine food, generous wine quotas and pithy entertainment. Visit the event website here for more information and tickets.
Image credit:Long Prawn PTY LTD
VAULT x ART GIRL RISING GIVEAWAY
Take out a 1 Year Print Subscription to VAULT today to receive a complimentary Art Girl Rising t-shirt with the first issue of your subscription! *
Each Art Girl Rising t-shirt features of the some of the biggest names in art history – names that we should all know – from Yayoi to Cindy; Thea to Emily; Yvonne to Julie.
Over the last 3 years, Art Girl Rising has championed an art world that stands for gender equality. Through donations, awareness campaigns, and initiatives such as ‘Where Are The Women Artists’, the organisation directly addresses the underrepresentation of womxn across the art world in a multifaceted way. Art Girl Rising t-shirts are proliferating across the globe, a testament to the artists, the art, and standing for woman artists.
Click here to subscribe!
*Until allocation exhausted
TO BE MAGAZINE: READ IT. LIVE IT.
With an eye for recognising the leading voices and visionaries from music, film, art and fashion counter-cultures, the team behind to Be magazine are curating a night of music, dance, performance and design – pitched as a real time expression of the publication and its values. Held on 1 May 2021, the line-up brings together young talent from across disciplines, including musicians Moopie and Buzz Kull, performance artists MaggZ, interior architect Victoria Punturere and projection artist Joshua Hourigan.
This late-night event takes the magazine’s content to an experiential level. The launch event positions to Be as a platform that connects community with creatives in a meaningful way.
For more information and to purchase tickets visit the event page.
Image credit: to Be magazine SS21 Launch Poster. Designed by James Neumann
